Customer Reviews

Someone Like Him

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

After only one hour on the job at a Manhattan realtor, Kansas transplant Lavender "Vinnie" Hart is fired. She is concerned because she needs the money to bankroll her twelve-year-old brother Adam's attendance at the exclusive, but expensive Gotham Young Scientist Academy.

Nicholas Wright mourns the loss of his seventy-five old madcap Aunt Edna who recently committed suicide her style when she learned her health was failing. Nicholas inherits her dog Daffodil, but needs a dog sitter. Though she has limited experience except for volunteer work and her comment on circus work is outrageous; Nicholas hires Vinnie after she gets Daffodil out of a pond. As Vinnie and Nicholas become acquainted through a matchmaking canine, they fall in love, but his soulless squeeze Dana Dvorak has a plan to rid Nicholas of the dog and the Midwest intruder.

Readers will enjoy this amusing look at single life in Manhattan especially from the eyes of the transplanted Jayhawker. The story line contains a charming cast of characters except for dental drill Dana, who offers no competition except her body to the wholesome friendliness of Vinnie. However, the big scene-stealer is Daffodil whether she cons a biscuit or interrupts a kiss. Nicholas and Vinnie learn never costar with canines and children as they are too smart. Readers will take pleasure form this lighthearted romantic romp.

Harriet Klausner

I wish I could give this book 10 stars, that is how much I loved the book! Nick has inherite a spoiled haute couture canine he, Nick as a hectic success obsessed life. He hires Vinne Hart for a dog sitter, Vinnie needs this job to put her 12 year old brother in school, she has taken on mother as well as sister to Adam, Vinnie has a roommate from Hell and Nick dose not think it is safe for her to live there so he says he has extra rooms and that she can stay there until she finds another roommate. What Nick didn't expect once Vinnie has moved it his whole life will change. As I was reading at some parts I caught myself saying ohhhh, at some parts it had me laughing out loud. What a enjoyable book, I highly recommend this one for your next read

Happy Reading Lisa

Lavander Hart is from Kansas, she is in New York to be near her little brother, Adam. Adam has won a scholarship to one of the prestigeous private schools because of his intelligence. She is desperately looking for a job. Not having a college degree, she is not having much luck. Finally she finds a job as a dog sitter to a wealthy, successful architect.

Nicolas Wright is a workaholic, who has no time for love, romance or stopping to smell the flowers, much less the pooch his great aunt just left him. Vinnie is an answer to his ad. She is also an answer to his life, if he can just slow down enough to see her.

That is just what happens, suddenly somehow, a confirmed cynic, finds his home invaded with a delightful woman, a homesick boy, and a wonderful dog who has an outfit for every occasion. Let the fun begin.

Karen Kendall gets better with every book. Nick and Vinnie are her warmest, most real characters to date, full of surprising twists and quirks. Every time I thought I had them figured out, another layer was revealed. He's a to-die-for hunk who knows it but doesn't have to indulge in any of that chest-thumping macho nonsense to impress Vinnie, who wouldn't be impressed anyway. She's been there and done that but has managed to remain sweet and small-town without becoming stereotypical. She even gets sweaty.
If you're looking for a read that will make you laugh out loud more than once, get teary in a place or two, AND take you on a few moonlit architectural tours of the Big Apple, then this is the book for you. You won't be disappointed.

This is the first book by Karen Kendall that I have ever read and I enjoyed this story. Transplanted from rural Kansas to Manhattan, Vinne Hart is entirely out of her element. She's blown several interviews but desperately needs a job in order to supplement the scholarship her young brother has won to a prestigious private school. Desperate she answers an ad for a dog sitter - how picky can they be and how could she blow this?

Up and coming architect Nicholas Wright is totally focused on his career and achieving goals - mainly partner in his architectural firm. But when he inherits a high maintenance dog from his eccentric late aunt (think Auntie Mame!) he needs serious help. He advertises for a dog sitter who turns out to be a sexy blond who exudes a farm girl type of charm.

Vinnie moves into Nick's penthouse and the differences in their upbringing and lifestyles is vast. He's boarding school, prep school, Ivy League and designer chic. She's high school grad, minimum wage and K-Mart. Moving to New York has been a difficult adjustment for both Vinnie and her little brother Adam. Vinnie's issues are more cultural and economically driven. But Adam was used to being the smartest kid in his class back in Kansas. Now, he is just one of lots of smart kids in this exclusive school and his difficulties fitting in break Vinnie's heart. Nick can identify with the kid's problems, but figures the experience will "build character" and toughen him up. He thinks Vinnie is too soft-hearted with Adam - and with everyone. Vinnie is horrified that Nick could be so callous but then she learns about his childhood, his cold and distant parents and she comes to understand his succeed-at-any-cost attitude. But she begins to see that he his, underneath it all, not fulfilled by designing boring box-like office buildings and the like. She knows deep down, he'd rather be using his talents for more creative pursuits, but that's not where success lies. And he needs success, praise, one more achievement that might just make his parents proud - show them how he made something of himself without them.

Meanwhile, he is becoming increasingly attracted to Vinnie and she to him. Their late night architectural tours of Manhattan are particularly charming but both are trying hard not to let this relationship turn sexual. Of course they fail (their first sexual encounter was a bit wild for their first!) and then they must begin to deal with where their relationship can ever go. And when Adam is bullied in school and moves in for a few weeks, a weird sort of family vibe takes hold. Nick begins to like Adam and together they design and build a home for Adam's pet frog. But can two people from such different worlds really make it in the long term? You'll hope so!

Though at times the humour seemed forced, silly and often unneccesary, I could overlook it in light of the wonderful way the author shows Vinnie's perceived shortcomings and lack of cultural flash and Nick's deep seated but long denied need for love and acceptance. A recommended read.

Lavender "Vinnie" Hart starts out with a real dilemma. Her younger brother needs her support to maintain his studies at Gotham Young Scientist Academy once he has been accepted. This comes at a price of having to pick up her Midwest life and move to the Big Apple. Of all the jobs in New York, this Kansas transplant ends up as a dogsitter for a canine that lives better than half the New York population after lasting a mere hour at a realtors office. Of course, this job has its perks as poor Vinnie is suddenly living in a Manhattan penthouse with an architect named Nicholas Wright. She actually snagged the job when she saved poor Daffodil, the spoiled but funny dog, from a pond.

Nicholas is not that fond of the pooch, but it was an inheritance from his recently decease aunt and he feels that obligation to watch for the dog as a last act of love for her. He is more worried about succeeding in life as his childhood memories were always filled with attention getting and he never really grew out of it.

With time, they actually find themselves falling for each other. Life is good for just the three of them as they start embarking on a relationship that he sometimes attempts to retreat from with such emergency deflation tactics as envisioning Jane Reno in lingerie.

Unfortunately, as is always in life, a third party wants to crash their happily ever after world. Dana Dvorak is Nicholas heartless love that schemes a plan to get rid of the spoiled Doberman Pincher and the sitter that watches the dog.

The story is an amusing one with Dana offering little more than sex to compete with Vinnies all around wholesomeness. Then there are the comic relief antics of Daffodil to keep the story light. Overall, an amusing and entertaining read. I highly recommend this one.

i like the book but i found it hard to cheer for vinnie because she's so inconsiderate. She lives with nick for free and take advantage of the place and did not appreciate it. I know she's supposed to be a nice girl, kind and very compassionate and naive. Yet, she got mad at nick, brought all different kind of people to his place and leave a mess. I don't think someone with that kind of character will do such a thing. Anyways, the story was predictable and cute. But at the end i just hated her.

Lavender "Vinnie" Hart's boss fires her only fifty-nine minutes after beginning her new job. With a twelve-year-old brother who needs tuition money to worry over, Vinnie desperately seeks a new position. After several disastrous interviews, Vinnie meets with Nicholas Wright who seeks someone to care for his newly acquired dog.

A wealthy architect, Nick knows more about design then he does the care of a four footed animal -- especially when his aunt bequeaths a detailed journal including instructions for pedicures and sweaters for the dog named Daffodil. The pooch turns into a powerful matchmaker, but even she may not be enough when the intrepid ex-girlfriend Dana Dvorak attempts to rid Nick of both his dog and Vinnie.

Author Karen Kendall has a gift for the turn of phrase in SOMEONE LIKE HIM. Prose reads like poetry with gems like "In the evening, she'd swear the smell of weariness hung in the air." Yet the comedic elements of the novel likewise sparkle with her original style that readers will treasure. A wonderful cast of characters keeps the pages turning with outrageous and unexpected antics. Vinnie's self-conscious awareness of class issues weighs heavily in this otherwise light hearted romp, revealing unexpected depth of characterization. With Daffodil's antics keeping the tone light, SOMEONE LIKE HIM provides a delightful afternoon's read, coming very highly recommended.

Yeah i understand what some of the other people thought about Vinnie looking down on her self because she didn't have a degree, but that was part of her charactor. It didn't bring the book down. It made her seem more human more realistic. It's a charactor you can relate too. Why put the charactors on pedastools all the time. We can't always relate to a gorgouse self confidant woman who always gets the guy. Vinnie's doubt about her self made the charactor who she is.

I liked this book. I thought it was fun and very much worth reading!